This past weekend, Williamsburg hosted the (still ongoing) Northside Festival, which rounds out the remainder of its events over the next few days. Bands, food, film, art and a tech expo were all on hand at avariety of north Brooklyn venues, but the main attraction was the pavement portion of McCarren Park (North 12th & Bedford), with a bandshell, tech tent, and variety of food retailers.
Billed as a “super teeny mini multi-media SXSW,” or even a possiblealternative to same, Northside was competing for attention withBanaroo (occurring at the same time), and hoping to escape “the graveyard” that is New York music festivals as well as the naysayers who lamented the Great GoogaMooga’s horrific environmental destruction and perennial bad luck, including a canceled final day.
But other than a variety of confusing badges, everything seemed surpisingly well-managed— nothing overloaded, over-promised, or over-priced, making for an exciting yet accessible experience.
Saturday’s billing included Phosphorescent, who drew a nice crowd, followed by The Walken, who lit up the masses to close out the acts for the day, among a host of others.
Meanwhile, a tech tent provided all sorts of whacky activity, with a frenzy of workers furiously apace around obtuse, Rube-Goldberg-likecontraptions, such as drums that played themselves.
Food options were eclectic without being overbearing, including hearty tacos from Cemitas and crab boil from Bon Chovie.
The Northside festival, now in its fifth year, is run by The L Magazine. For further information, visit the festival’s website, “like” the magazine on Facebook, or follow it on Twitter.
Matthew Taub is a writer and lawyer in Brooklyn, NY. He is the author of “Death of the Dying City,” a novel.